Currently available vehicular diagnostic tools are devices that are designed to communicate with the various computing systems that are included within modern vehicles. During these communications, information about the operation of vehicular systems (e.g., anti-lock braking systems, air conditioning systems, transmissions, steering mechanisms, etc.) is transferred to the tools. Then, mechanics use the information obtained by the tools to determine the repairs that the vehicles need, if any.
Today's vehicular diagnostic tools are either configured to communicate with vehicular computing systems using a single communications protocol or are configured to accommodate the use of multiple communications protocols through the use of relatively complex and expensive circuitry. As such, a currently available vehicular diagnostic tool that is configured to communicate using the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J1850 communications protocol is either incapable of communicating with a vehicular computing system that utilizes the ISO 9141 communications protocol or does so by utilizing the above-mentioned relatively complex and expensive circuitry. Therefore, if a mechanic wishes to obtain information from a first vehicular computing system that utilizes the SAE J1850 communications protocol and also wishes to obtain information from a second vehicular computing system that utilizes the ISO 9141 communications protocol, the mechanic will either have to use two separate tools or a relatively expensive multi-protocol tool.